Valorant is a blast. Nothing beats clutching a round with your favorite Agent. But just when you’re about to win… *BAM!* Your game freezes. Your screen is stuck, the crowd is silent, and your mouse is useless. What gives?
TL;DR
If your Valorant keeps freezing, it’s usually because of hardware issues, outdated drivers, overloaded background apps, or game file corruption. Fixing it is super doable. You can update your GPU drivers, lower in-game settings, or repair the game. Stick around to find out how to make your gameplay buttery smooth again!
Why Is Valorant Freezing?
Freezing in Valorant can be super frustrating. Let’s break it down into simple causes. Here are the most common ones:
- Weak system specs trying to run high graphics
- Outdated or buggy drivers
- Too many apps running in the background
- Corrupt game files
- Windows or system glitches
Now that we know what’s likely going wrong, let’s get into how to make it right!
1. Check Your PC Specs
First things first — can your computer even handle Valorant?
Here’s what Riot Games recommends:
- CPU: Intel i3-4150 or equivalent
- GPU: Geforce GT 730
- RAM: 4 GB minimum (8 GB+ is better!)
- OS: Windows 7/8/10 64-bit
If your specs are lower than this, your computer might be silently crying every time you queue up for a match.
Tip: Press Windows + R, type dxdiag, and hit Enter. You’ll see your system info pop up!
2. Update Your Graphics Drivers
Outdated GPU drivers can mess things up in all kinds of glitchy ways. Let’s fix that.
Steps to update:
- For NVIDIA: Go to NVIDIA Downloads
- For AMD: Visit AMD Drivers
- Use their auto-detect tools OR input your GPU model manually
- Download and install the latest driver
Restart your PC after installing the driver. Then run Valorant again and see if it plays nice.
3. Close Background Apps
Ever run Valorant while Spotify, Discord, and 15 Chrome tabs are open? Your PC remembers. And it might not have the power to handle it all.
Try this:
- Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager
- Go to the Processes tab
- Right-click any big memory hogs (e.g. Chrome, OBS, Steam, etc.) and click End Task
Freeing up your RAM and CPU can help Valorant run much smoother.
4. Lower In-Game Settings
Your settings might be set too high. Even if your computer is powerful, optimizing graphics can give you a decent FPS boost and avoid freezing.
In Valorant settings:
- Set Material Quality to Low
- Set Texture Quality to Low
- Disable V-Sync
- Turn off Anti-Aliasing
- Set Anisotropic Filtering to 2x or Off
- Enable Multithreaded Rendering if you have a multi-core CPU
Every bit of extra performance helps. Prioritize frames over flashy shaders!
5. Repair Valorant Files
Sometimes the game itself is messed up. Corrupt game files can cause freezing, weird bugs, or crashes.
Here’s how to fix it:
- Launch the Riot Client
- Click on the Profile icon (top-right corner)
- Click Settings > Valorant
- Look for an option to ‘Repair’ or ‘Verify’ game files
This process may take a few minutes, but it’s worth it to restore any broken files.
6. Update Windows
Sounds boring, but it works. Running an outdated version of Windows can cause all kinds of compatibility issues.
To update it:
- Go to Settings ➜ Update & Security
- Click on Check for updates
- Let your system install anything available
Once complete, restart your PC and give Valorant another try.
7. Reinstall Valorant (Last Resort)
If nothing else fixes the freezing, you might need to do the big reset.
To do this:
- Go to Control Panel ➜ Programs ➜ Uninstall a Program
- Find Valorant and uninstall it
- Restart your PC
- Download the latest installer from playvalorant.com and reinstall the game
Yes, it takes time, but it’s a surefire way to wipe out weird bugs and corrupted files.
Extra Bonus Tip: Set Valorant to High Priority
Want Valorant to get more attention from your CPU? Give it VIP treatment!
- Launch the game
- Minimize it and open Task Manager
- Go to the Details tab
- Right-click VALORANT.exe ➜ Set Priority ➜ High
This tells Windows to focus more resources on Valorant and should help reduce freezing.
Final Thoughts
Valorant is a competitive game, so smooth performance is crucial. No one wants to lose a ranked match because their screen turned into a slideshow.
Luckily, most freezing issues have a fix — and you don’t need to be a tech wizard to do it. Whether it’s closing extra background tasks, tweaking your graphics, or just updating your drivers, you’re fully equipped now to bring the heat without the hiccups.
Now go frag out!
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